Bill approved with a two-thirds majority at both the houses; 225 members vote in favour in NA, while 65 in Senate; Bilawal Bhutto, Omar Ayub, Khawaja Asif, Fazlur Rehman, Dr Farooq Sattar, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan delivered addresses at lower house; PTI stages walk out; Method of CJP appointment altered; Special parliamentary committee to induct CJP from 3 senior judges; Constitutional Benches to be set up in SC, at provincial level; Judicial Commission to be reconstituted
Abdul Hadi Mayar Islamabad
The Parliament passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill with two-thirds majority on Monday morning, bringing drastic changes in the judicial set up of the country and sealing the supremacy of the parliament over all organs of the state, including the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The bill sailed through both houses of the Legislature with a confortable two-thirds majority. In the National Assembly, 225 members voted in favour of the bill while 12 voted against it. Twenty-six clauses of the Constitution were also passed by the house by the same number of MNAs.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazir Tarar tabled the bill in the National Assembly.
The government needed 224 votes in the Lower House to ensure its two-thirds majority while it had 214 members, including 111 of Pakistan Muslim League-N, 70 Pakistan Peoples’ Party, 22 MQM, five Pakistan Muslim League-Q and one each PML-Z and Balochistan Awami party.
Eight Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F and six dissident members of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and Sunni Ittehad Council also voted in favour of the Constitutional Amendment. As soon as the Speaker announced clause-wise voting on the bill, members belonging to PTI and SIC walked out of the house.
Two members of the National Assembly could not vote as references had been filed against them while Sardar Akhtar Mengal of Balochistan National Party-Mengal has tendered his resignation.
Major thrust of the bill is on the establishment of Constitutional Bench at the federal and provincial level, which will exclusively tackle constitutional matters, sparing the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ordinary appellate jurisprudence.
By amending Article 175 of the Constitution, the parliament has changed the method of induction of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Instead of the previous practice of elevation of the senior most judge as the Chief Justice, the new CJP will now be selected from among the three senior most judges of the apex court.
A 12-member special parliamentary committee will appoint the CJP with two-third majority. The committee will include eight members from the National Assembly and four from Senate. Members of the committee will be chosen from all political parties in both houses of the parliament on the basis of proportional representation.
The special parliamentary committee will propose name for the Chief Justice to the Prime Minister, who will advise the President to order his induction. No tribunal, court or authority will have the power to challenge the proposal made by the Prime Minister, the President or the Special Parliamentary Committee.
The Chief Justice will be appointed for three years while his age of retirement has been fixed at 65. The power of suo motto has now been taken from the Chief Justice or the three-member bench formation committee of the Supreme Court and vested in the Constitutional Bench.
Amendments have also been made in the Constitution to change the method of judges of the higher judiciary. The judicial reforms also include reconstitution of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.
The structure of the Constitutional Bench will be decided, at federal level by the joint sitting of the parliament and at the provinces by the concerned provincial assembly with 51 percent of the total members. Equal representation will be given to all provinces in the Constitutional Bench at the Supreme Court.
Under amendment in Article 215 of the Constitution, Chief Election Commissioner will continue to work till the induction of his successor. Similarly, other members of the Election Commission of Pakistan will also continue to work till the appointment of new members.
The parliament also made amendment in the constitutional to the effect of functioning of Federal Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology. According to the bill, any matter favoured by 25 percent of the parliament members will be referred to the council, as against the previous 40 percent.
Besides the judicial reforms, the Constitutional Amendment also involved ensuring of environmental protection making it a basic right. It also involved abolition of usury-based economy. Under the amendment, usury-based economy will be abolished by 2028.
Dwelling upon salient features of the bill, Tarar said the main part of the amendment bill involved establishment of Constitutional Court, which has now being changed into Constitutional Bench. He said all institutions, including the judiciary, must have a system of accountability.
For his part, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appreciated the role of JUI-F chief, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman is preparing the constitutional amendment package. He also lauded the role of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mian Nawaz Sharif and all political parties, including Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, adding that 99 percent of the bill was based on recommendations of PTI.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that establishment of Constitutional Court was first proposed by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Later Justice Durab Patel also proposed it. He said that it was very much part of the Charter of democracy. The PPP Chairman said after passage of the bill the people will get instant justice.
Leader of the House in National Assembly Umar Ayub Khan alleged that loyalties of MNAs were being purchased for the bill. He alleged that the bill was being sponsored by ‘unknown quarters.’ He described the bill as a drone attack on judiciary and its independence.
In his address, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said passage of the bill was the first step towards restoration of the supremacy of the parliament.
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said the bill did not revolve around personalities. He said while the Constitution was supreme, the Charter of Democracy could be subjected to change. He paid tributes to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and leaders of all political parties. He said PTI was also part of the team preparing the draft amendment bill.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said it was a black day for independent judiciary. He said his party did not agree with even a single word of the bill.
Gohar refuted claim of the ruling coalition that his party was in favour of the bill alleging that many changes had been made in the initial draft without their consent. He said his party was not in consensus with the ruling alliance on the bill.
As soon as the house proceedings began, the five missing PTI-SIC dissidents, including Chaudry Ilyas, Usman Ali, Mubarak Zeb, Zahoor Qureshi, and Aurangzeb, entered the house and voted for the bill.
Another PTI MNA, whose name could not be ascertained is also stated to have voted for the bill.
Earlier, the bill was passed along with 22 changes in the original draft by Senate with two-third majority. Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar tabled the bill. It was for the first time in the parliamentary history of Pakistan that a constitutional amendment bill was initiated in the Upper House. Sixty-five senators, as against 64 needed for two-thirds majority, voted in favour of the bill while four voted against it. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf abstained from voting.
Those who voted in favour of the bill included 23 members of PPP, 19 of PMLN, five JUI-F, four BAP, four independent, three members each of ANP and MQM, two BNP-Mengal, and one each of National Party and PML-Q.
Two dissident Senators of BNP-Mengal, including Senator Qasim and Senator Nasima Ehsan voted in favour of the bill. Contrary to fears expressed by PTI leaders, no Senator of the party voted in favour of the government-sponsored bill.
Those who voted against the bill included Ali Zafar and Aun Abbas from PTI, Hamid Khan from SIC and Raja Nasir Abbas from Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen.
PTI, Sunni Ittehad Council and MWM went out of Senate while the house kept on debate and voting on changes to the bill. However, Raja Nasir Abbas, Hamid Khan and PTI members, Ali Zafar and Aun Abbas returned to the house before the Chairman announced voting on the bill.
Interestingly, while the PTI did not vote in favour of the bill, its members voted in favour of most of the 22 changes in the bill.
Speaking in the house after passing of the bill, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House, Muhammad Ishaq Dar congratulated leaders of all allied political parties on passage of the bill. He said it was an historic day as their efforts of months had finally yielded fruits.
Dar said the establishment of Constitutional Court, which has now been approved as Constitutional Bench, was the unfinished agenda of the 2006 Charter of Democracy, to which, besides other, PTI Chief Imran Khan was also a signatory.
He said passage of the bill was not a number game. Rather, the government and its allies tried to take all political parties, including PTI, on board. He particularly appreciated the JUI-F Ameer Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman for his efforts to evolve consensus among all political parties.
In his address, Azam Nazir Tarar said Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will go home after completion of his tenure. He said he had held several meeting with Qazi but he insisted that he was not interested in extension of his tenure.
Prior to presentation in the Upper House, the draft bill was approved by the federal cabinet which held its meeting in the evening Sharif for the same purpose under Prime Minister Shehbaz. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister congratulated the entire nation and thanked leaders of all allied political parties on evolving consensus on the amendment, particularly the judicial reforms.
According to government sources, President Asif Ali Zardari will assent the bill at a ceremony in the President House at 06:00 in the morning, which will also be attended by parliamentarians.
